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Overall Rating : 7/10
Directed By : Pete Travis
Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow)
Matthew Fox (Lost (TV) )
Forest Whitaker (The Great Debaters)
Sigourney Weaver (Alien)
Supplied By : Sony Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : June. 24, 2008
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| PLOT During an historic counter-terrorism summit in Spain the President of the United States is struck down by an assassin's bullet. Eight strangers have a perfect view of the kill but what did they really see? As the minutes leading up to the fatal shot are replayed through the eyes of each eyewitness the reality of the assassination takes shape. But just when you think you know the answer the shattering final truth is revealed. | ||||
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| THE REVIEW The premise of the political thriller Vantage point takes place on the day of an important terrorism summit, in which the president has traveled to Spain for the meeting. Among his secret service crew are agents Kent Taylor and Thomas Barnes. This assignment happens ro be Barnes' first since an assassination attempt left him wounded about six months prior. Still very cautious, Barnes is quite jittery as the event plays continuously in his head, he's afraid that the events will occur again - and as it so happens, his instincts are correct. As soon as President Aston reaches the podium for his speech he is struck down immediately by two shots that originate from a window, and minutes later to make matters worse the shots are followed by two huge explosions The unexpected attack causes the huge on-looking crowd to go into a frenzy, as the secret service scatters to find the ones responsible. Through out the film, entire onslaught is retold through the vantage point of 8 different witnessed all of which intersect each other eventually, resulting in Barnes being the individual to piece together clues, all in an effort to save the President of the United States. VANTAGE POINT is definitely a film that is more easier to watch than it is to write about. The easiest way to explain it would be that the film starts with the arrival of the President in Spain and continues up until he is shot by an unknown assailant. the film then "rewinds" to the very beginning, but each time the same story is retold in a different character's point of view. Yes, this is a film that you must watch the same things happen over and over again,(it strongly resembles the film 11:14 in a way, but it really isn't boring as you might expect it to be, because each point of view is played out in a fresh manner and with each a new and unexpected clue is revealed to us - thus keeping us eagerly watching. The film starts out traditionally enough through the eyes of a television crew lead by Rex Brooks, who seems to want nothing more than to capture the next big story. Out of all the view points presented here, this one involving the news crew, may be the least important of all - however it does lend a big clue as far as the films conclusion goes, later in the film. After the explosions occur in the first viewpoint, we rewind the story back exactly 23 minutes prior. This time around, we witness things through the eyes of agent Barnes as he virtually relives the horror of the event 6 months before, only this time in Spain, the situation is more chaotic and much more serious, as it is apparent that whoever is behind the event have well calculated their attack. During this particular POV Barnes tackles and apprehends a man that was seemingly running towards the president after he has been shot, the man claims to be a police officer, however the semi-paranoid Barnes isn't to sure. The initial Barnes view continues up until the bombs explode, which occurs just minutes after he tries to call up the Secret Service control center, but would receive no response......it's a cliff hanger, but is explained later. From then on the film continues with several more vantage points, which includes an American tourist named Howard Lewis whom is videotaping the happenings on his digital camcorder(whose footage would lend a few clues). Saying anymore about the addition POVs would likely give the film's mystery away, but I will say that a little bit of each shed a little light on some answers, as well as reveal that some of the characters have hidden agendas, some in which you probably won't see coming. I really enjoy films of this type in which one story is told then retold through different perspectives, which eventually run together creating one big conclusion. Admittedly when watching this films, you just have to wonder how difficult;t it is to shoot one of these films, because not only do you have to be shooting the film from all of the different viewpoints simultaneously, but you also have to make sure that each are edited correctly to correspond with one another. You'd think that in the midst of all that work, a film such as this one would be quite the ridiculous mess, but I have to say that I have seen some good ones. VANTAGE POINT is no exception as it truly kept my attention the entire time and like a film such as BOBBY(which is a great film by the way), it tells the story of an assassination(although BOBBY is more factual and more traditional in it's story telling), told through various pairs of eyes, and shows how each character is involved in the overall outcome. Each point of view, a little different, but each contributing to the film as a whole. VANTAGE POINT features some great acting by it's powerful ensemble cast, which includes names such as Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox and Sigourney Weaver. The action is this film is indeed fun to watch, but it could also be considered by some to be a little indulgent and unrealistic, however I think that the serious approach by the cast helps the film remain grounded through out. Quaid gives yet another top notch performance here as Barnes, and is clearly tailored to be VANTAGE POINTS star. He is a stand out here, but I believe to everyone else is just as good, especially Whitaker, as the kind tourist Howard Lewis. |
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| GORE
METER 2/10 Multiple gunshot wounds, and violent crashes, but that's about it. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4/10 The score is definitely not a standout here, as it is basically drowned out by all of the action....i'd say it's decent. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM VANTAGE POINT is a film, that prior to seeing it, I just didn't know how much i'd enjoy it. Also one of the major questions I had was, if this cast has so many major to moderately named stars, then why did this film only get a limited theatrical run and not a wide one? After seeing VANTAGE POINT, that question still remains, but for an entirely different reason - because in my opinion, this is a very good film, and I think it deserved much better treatment. For what it is, VANTAGE POINT is a fast paced, high action thriller, with great direction and execution as well as great performances by it's big cast. I recommend! This DVD will be released on July 1, 2008 |
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